[royalt]

Hi All,

We have a three-year-old daughter adopted from Guatemala. We live in an area where the Spanish language and culture is flourishing. We can even send our daughter to Spanish Language immersion in the public schools for kindergarten on.
Now our problem, we want to adopt again, but are finding difficulty with countries where Spanish is dominant. If we adopted from a country such as China, Russia, or Ethiopia, do we have our first daughter continue with Spanish? What do we do for our second child? Do we all learn three languages? We would like our children to know the primary language of their birth countries. Any thoughts from people who are adopting or have adopted children from two different countries? Sorry so long, Traci

[Devora]

In terms of Spanish-speaking countries, have you looked into Colombia and Peru? They both have stable programs, although the age restrictions may mean you cannot adopt an infant. (Infant international adoption is increasingly limited to just a few countries.)

As for having multiple countries, you might want to consider other ways that the whole family can participate in some aspect of the children's homeland culture. I know someone who has three children from Guatemala, China and India. She has described how she can see all three children going to: Spanish language classes, martial arts, and Indian dance classes. It's an image that has stuck with me. Her family does many things on an everyday basis to connect all of their children to all three cultures (making day-to-day connections to the countries' histories, reading books set in the different cultures, etc.). Language is important, but not the only way to make connections. It makes a lot of sense for our Guatemalan children because of the predominance of Spanish in US culture and the fact that it will allow them to move between the cultures more easily. But depending on where you live language may not be the most meaningful cultural connection for an Ethiopian child, for example.

I do think it's important to create ways that all of the children can explore all of the relevant cultures, not just the one they came from. That's why I like how my friend talked about all of the kids being involved in all of the activities. Obviously, as children grow they will develop their own interests. It may be that your Guatemalan child takes up Chinese dance and your Chinese child wants to learn languages including Spanish but has no interest in dance. So at some point they are going to make their own decisions. But I do agree with you that we as parents need to help foster those cultural connections. Otherwise the chances of the connection being important or meaningful to them is less likely.

[kirbystarcat]

Thanks for bringing up this topic, Traci. We have recently returned home from Vietnam with our second child. I have been struggling with this issue myself. We are not in an area where Spanish is widely used but it is certainly more accessible to our daughter than Vietnamese is for our son. I intend to put DD in Spanish class and hope she likes it and feel strongly that I want her to be fluent. We are attempting to counterbalance in other ways than language with DS. For example, it is much easier to host exchange students form Vietnam than it is Guatemala. We have a student now from Vietnam and were fortunate enough to spend time with her family while we were on our pick up trip. That is a personal relationship that will continue to grow in the future that will connect DS to Vietnam. I also try to cook food from both cultures and connect us all that way. We read books from both cultures and actively participate in activities with other families who have adopted from each country. I am eager to see what others post here.

[lisam631]

Our son is from Guatemala and our daughter is from China. We feel like all four of us Guatemalan, Chinese & American.

When we were talking to our social worker about the second adoption from Guatemala, she said that the most important thing in a child's life is diversity. So sometimes our lives and events are skewed more toward the Asian culture, and sometimes more toward the Hispanic. And some days we're very American in what we eat, say and do.

I always laugh that my Guatemalan son loves the food at Asian restaurants and there's no bigger fan of refried beans than my Chinese daughter.

We just plan to follow their cues on what their interests are and we'll always celebrate holidays and participate in events for all 3 cultures.

Probably the only thing that has truly changed in our lives since bringing home our son, is the amount of attention we get when we're out. In our city, international adoption is very common, but we're still a bit of an attention grabber with 3 different ethnicities. I'm sure as our children grow we'll have more issues with but right now that seems to be the biggest difference (other than how darn tired I am with two kids!).

Lisa
Mom to DD China 11/05
and DS Guatemala 4/08

[Larue]

It's funny you should ask this. We just had our last homestudy visit last night, and our social worker brought up this very topic. We have a daughter adopted from Guatemala, and are now hoping to adopt a son from Nepal. What the other posters sugegsted is also what our social worker suggested. That we celebrate aspects of both cultures as a family, and incorporate them into our daily lives, such including traditional dishes in our meals, listening to music, reading children's stories, etc.

Best wishes with your next adoption!

[Dmitry'smom]

My son was born in Russia and my daughter in Guatemala. My son is now 10 and is interested in all things Russian but doesn't really want to learn Russian at this time (it is a hard language to learn) but he wants to learn Spanish. We plan on my daughter who was born in Guatemala learning Spanish. I hope to adopt again one day and may end up going with yet another country so I guess we will learn another language.

[IH8MEAT]

Originally Posted by Devora

In terms of Spanish-speaking countries, have you looked into Colombia and Peru? They both have stable programs, although the age restrictions may mean you cannot adopt an infant. (Infant international adoption is increasingly limited to just a few countries.)

As for having multiple countries, you might want to consider other ways that the whole family can participate in some aspect of the children's homeland culture. I know someone who has three children from Guatemala, China and India. She has described how she can see all three children going to: Spanish language classes, martial arts, and Indian dance classes. It's an image that has stuck with me. Her family does many things on an everyday basis to connect all of their children to all three cultures (making day-to-day connections to the countries' histories, reading books set in the different cultures, etc.). Language is important, but not the only way to make connections. It makes a lot of sense for our Guatemalan children because of the predominance of Spanish in US culture and the fact that it will allow them to move between the cultures more easily. But depending on where you live language may not be the most meaningful cultural connection for an Ethiopian child, for example.

I do think it's important to create ways that all of the children can explore all of the relevant cultures, not just the one they came from. That's why I like how my friend talked about all of the kids being involved in all of the activities. Obviously, as children grow they will develop their own interests. It may be that your Guatemalan child takes up Chinese dance and your Chinese child wants to learn languages including Spanish but has no interest in dance. So at some point they are going to make their own decisions. But I do agree with you that we as parents need to help foster those cultural connections. Otherwise the chances of the connection being important or meaningful to them is less likely.

I can't even think of better things to do!! Celebrate ALL the cultures!!

[kerriv]

I had a 2 year old from Guatemala (Ruby) when I brought home my 6 year old from Ethiopia (Medina). I have always planned to send Ruby to a Spanish immersion daycare when she's old enough and then to the Spanish immersion grade school and I still do. There aren't the resources for Amharic (Medina's first language) but Medina's old enough to teach me some words. Also, we spend more time talking about Ethiopia and life there. We go to the Ethiopian restaurant about 1 1/2 hours away about once a month. It will be different incorporating Ethiopian culture than Guatemalan but I think it will be interesting. Medina can't wait to show Ruby where she lived in Ethiopia and is so excited to visit Guatemala and see where Ruby's from.